Lord Lucan’s son applies for missing peer to be ‘presumed dead’

Lord and Lady Lucan - 1964 Lucan is infamous for the murder of Sandra Rivett in November 1974, he disappeared without trace before arrest or trial. ENGPPP00120131217122813

Published:11:48Monday 19 October 2015

The son of missing peer Lord Lucan, who was last seen alive in Sussex and whose bloodied car was later found by the coast, has applied to have his father declared “presumed dead”.

George Bingham took out a public notice in last week’s West End Extra newspaper announcing the start of legal proceedings which, if successful, could lead to a death certificate being issued and the Earl’s title being inherited.

Lord Lucan disappeared from his home in central London in 1974 following the death of the family nanny, Sandra Rivett.

He was seen shortly after Ms Rivett’s death at a friend’s house in Uckfield and his car was later found abandoned and covered in blood in Norman Road, Newhaven.

He was never seen or heard from again and a jury at the inquest into Ms Rivett’s death, held a year later, found he murdered her.

Lord Lucan was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999 but Mr Bingham told West End Extra this declaration had not proved death “for all purposes” and was applying to the High Court under the Presumption of Death Act for “closure”.

The Presumption of Death Act was the result of a campaign supported by relatives of high-profile missing people. It allows close relatives to apply for a death certificate when their loved ones have been missing for seven years or more, helping them with any financial or legal issues that may have ensued when trying to resolve missing person’s affairs without a death certificate.

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